60 Minutes Asks What`s It Like To Have Sunrise As Neighbor

March 12, 1985|By Jim Erickson, Staff Writer

DAVIE — Town Administrator Irv Rosenbaum didn`t get a chance to do his Andy Rooney impression for the 60 Minutes film crew Monday, but he did have a few things to say about suspended Sunrise Mayor John Lomelo.

Harry Reasoner and a CBS film crew put Rosenbaum under the lights for more than an hour Monday morning in his Town Hall office. The 60 Minutes team was back in Broward County to conduct final interviews for a segment on Lomelo that probably will air in April, said Jim Jackson, the segment`s producer.

``I didn`t get nasty,`` said Rosenbaum. ``We talked in generalities about Sunrise and what a good neighbor they have been,`` he said, laughing. Lawsuits, annexations, utility disputes and the rivalry between the two cities were among the topics discussed, he said.

``It was The Tale of Two Cities -- you know, the general problems with having Sunrise as a neighbor and dealing with Lomelo,`` Rosenbaum said.

Two or three other Broward officials -- Jackson wouldn`t name them -- were scheduled for similar interviews Monday. Transitions between various scenes in the segment also were to be shot Monday, he said.

Last month Reasoner and a 60 Minutes crew interviewed Lomelo and other Sunrise officials, filmed a portion of an unusually subdued Sunrise City Council meeting and visited with a group of Sunrise Lakes condominium residents.

Rosenbaum was picked for an interview because ``we wanted to show another city leader, in a similarly size city, so the audience could compare how another city is run,`` Jackson said. The Lomelo segment probably will be between 11 and 15 minutes in length, he said.

Lomelo and Sunrise Councilman John Montgomery were suspended Nov. 29 by Gov. Bob Graham after both were indicted with another city official and two businessmen on charges of extortion, mail fraud and interstate commerce violations. Lomelo`s trial is scheduled for June.

Graham appointed Bob Butterworth, former director of the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and ex-Broward County sheriff, to take Lomelo`s place.

Reasoner was tight-lipped outside Davie Town Hall after his interview with Rosenbaum. ``We can`t talk about what we did in the interview,`` he said.

``You`ll have to watch the show to find out,`` he said. ``Sorry I can`t be more forthcoming.``